Milbank LLP advised the dealer managers in connection with 10 exchange offers and related cash tender offers for Verizon bonds with approximately $17.5 billion of outstanding principal. The transaction was conducted on an expedited timeline and structured in accordance with the SEC’s five business day no-action letter to minimize Verizon’s and bondholder’s exposure to financial market volatility. It was one of the first transactions to employ a waterfall drop and hopscotch structure for a five business day exchange and tender offer. The exchange offers and tender offers resulted in the issuance of approximately $2.2 billion of new notes due 2037 and the repurchase of approximately $500 million of existing short-term debt. The transaction allowed Verizon to extend its near-term maturity profile in advance of the upcoming financing for the funding of its acquisition of Frontier.
The deal team was led by Corporate Finance and Securities partner Paul Denaro and associates Isobel Smith, Devarshi Mukhopadhyay and Christopher Puglisi, with support from Tax partner Andrew Walker and associate Michelle Song.
